Tourism: A Soft Target for Terrorism?
Author: Leah Jay Smith
2 Commentries
Abstract:
This paper examines the reasons as to why the tourism industry is such a high target for terrorist attacks. It firstly looks at the impacts that a terrorist attack can have on the tourism industry and why popular tourist destinations are considered 'soft targets' for such hard incidents.
Key Words:
Tourism, Terrorism, Soft Targets
The tourism industry has been an ever growing economic and social phenomenon and is one of the largest industries in the world today. According to the World Bank (2013), between 2008 and 2012 the UK had 29,306,000 international inbound arrivals which means that the UK have saw an increase compared to the last statistics of 28,295,000 inbound arrivals between 2003 and 2007.
Unfortunately with an industry that has continued to grow over the last few decades, there has also been an increase with crime within certain popular tourist destination. Terrorism is one of the main factors that affects the decisions of the tourist as to whether to visit or return to a destination (Mansfeld, 2006). According to Mi5 (2013), Terrorists are increasingly looking at "soft" targets within certain destinations where westerners can be found. This can be from small to large social and retail venues to large tourist destinations and methods of transport. Incidents like these have previously caused a major decline within the tourism industry and have had a major effect on the amount of tourists within a once popular destination, (Sonmez, 1998). According to Mansfeld (2006) incidents like this have had a severe impact within the tourism market and major tour operators around the world saw the majority of customers cancel trips or change their bookings to destinations that were seen as safer.
During the first decade of the 21st century, the tourism industry has been hit with many crisis's, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in September 2001 is probably the most horrific yet remembered crises the tourism sector has probably seen, (Beirman, 2010).
Sonmez (1998) suggests that targeting tourism is the medium of communication instigated by terrorists, and due to the major impact a terrorist attack can have on the destination and the rest of the world, it's the most beneficial way to send a message to government or society. Choosing a major tourist destination will increase the amount of attention the incident gets.
Where terrorism is concerned, certain sites are classed as soft targets for such attacks. This is because a long period of preparation, such as keeping constant surveillance on the target etc. is not required. All that is required is the creation or infiltration the weapons or explosive devices that are to be used. And a small team of people to carry out the attack (The Rediff Special, 2008).
Generally, it can be suggested that terrorists prefer to attack soft targets because they are areas where there are large groups of people. This is because the attack would then be symbolic, generate a maximum amount of media attention and therefore be broadcasted all over the world (Schneier, 2011). Previous examples of this include the World Trade Centre in New York, the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and the London Underground - places where there are large volumes of people from locals to tourists, all day, every day.
The obvious impacts that terrorist attacks have on any target are fatalities, injuries and destruction, however though these are the majorly negative impacts. There are also other negative impacts that can affect the tourism industry such as disrupt travel, affect the economy of tourism based services such as hotels, tour operators etc. discourage investment in tourism organisations. Foreign investment is one of the main economic benefits for tourism, and a terrorist attack could hugely effect a destinations economic development. Coshall (2005) conducted a study on the United Kingdom's expenditure overseas, and found that although a terrorist attack can have a substantial effect on a destinations economy, the actual impact can vary depending on the magnitude of the attack and the popularity of the destination. For example, a terrorist attack such as the bombing of the Pan Am flight in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 saw a minimum impact on international tourists spending. Whereas, the attack on 9/11 had a significant effect on international expenditure all across the globe.
Bloomberg et al. (2004) discuss that terrorist attacks can have a major negative impact on an economical perspective at first, but the effect in the long run is short lived compared to incidents such as war or internal conflict within destinations. A perfect example for this would be the terrorist attack of 9/11. Just a few years after the incident, the site, now known as Ground Zero, attracts more visitors per year than the World Trade Centre (Travel Weekly, 2012).
Overall, it can be suggested that terrorist attacks within a destination can alter the tourism demand patterns, for example, Chen and Noriega (2004) suggested that there was an increasing demand to cancel travel or holiday plans on receipt of the 9/11 attacks. This therefore suggests that major crisis have major negative impacts on the tourism industry. It is therefore important that with any major tourist destination, the significance of crisis and risk management should be emphasised by the frequency, severity and global scale of the crises, (Beirman, 2010).
References:
Beirman, D. (2010) Crisis, Recovery and Risk management. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers Limited, p.4
Mansfeld, Y. and Pizam, A. (2006) Tourism, Security and Safety: from theory to practice. 3rd ed. UK: Oxford.
Sönmez, S. (1998). Tourism, Terrorism and Political Instability. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(2):416
This paper examines the reasons as to why the tourism industry is such a high target for terrorist attacks. It firstly looks at the impacts that a terrorist attack can have on the tourism industry and why popular tourist destinations are considered 'soft targets' for such hard incidents.
Key Words:
Tourism, Terrorism, Soft Targets
The tourism industry has been an ever growing economic and social phenomenon and is one of the largest industries in the world today. According to the World Bank (2013), between 2008 and 2012 the UK had 29,306,000 international inbound arrivals which means that the UK have saw an increase compared to the last statistics of 28,295,000 inbound arrivals between 2003 and 2007.
Unfortunately with an industry that has continued to grow over the last few decades, there has also been an increase with crime within certain popular tourist destination. Terrorism is one of the main factors that affects the decisions of the tourist as to whether to visit or return to a destination (Mansfeld, 2006). According to Mi5 (2013), Terrorists are increasingly looking at "soft" targets within certain destinations where westerners can be found. This can be from small to large social and retail venues to large tourist destinations and methods of transport. Incidents like these have previously caused a major decline within the tourism industry and have had a major effect on the amount of tourists within a once popular destination, (Sonmez, 1998). According to Mansfeld (2006) incidents like this have had a severe impact within the tourism market and major tour operators around the world saw the majority of customers cancel trips or change their bookings to destinations that were seen as safer.
During the first decade of the 21st century, the tourism industry has been hit with many crisis's, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in September 2001 is probably the most horrific yet remembered crises the tourism sector has probably seen, (Beirman, 2010).
Sonmez (1998) suggests that targeting tourism is the medium of communication instigated by terrorists, and due to the major impact a terrorist attack can have on the destination and the rest of the world, it's the most beneficial way to send a message to government or society. Choosing a major tourist destination will increase the amount of attention the incident gets.
Where terrorism is concerned, certain sites are classed as soft targets for such attacks. This is because a long period of preparation, such as keeping constant surveillance on the target etc. is not required. All that is required is the creation or infiltration the weapons or explosive devices that are to be used. And a small team of people to carry out the attack (The Rediff Special, 2008).
Generally, it can be suggested that terrorists prefer to attack soft targets because they are areas where there are large groups of people. This is because the attack would then be symbolic, generate a maximum amount of media attention and therefore be broadcasted all over the world (Schneier, 2011). Previous examples of this include the World Trade Centre in New York, the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and the London Underground - places where there are large volumes of people from locals to tourists, all day, every day.
The obvious impacts that terrorist attacks have on any target are fatalities, injuries and destruction, however though these are the majorly negative impacts. There are also other negative impacts that can affect the tourism industry such as disrupt travel, affect the economy of tourism based services such as hotels, tour operators etc. discourage investment in tourism organisations. Foreign investment is one of the main economic benefits for tourism, and a terrorist attack could hugely effect a destinations economic development. Coshall (2005) conducted a study on the United Kingdom's expenditure overseas, and found that although a terrorist attack can have a substantial effect on a destinations economy, the actual impact can vary depending on the magnitude of the attack and the popularity of the destination. For example, a terrorist attack such as the bombing of the Pan Am flight in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 saw a minimum impact on international tourists spending. Whereas, the attack on 9/11 had a significant effect on international expenditure all across the globe.
Bloomberg et al. (2004) discuss that terrorist attacks can have a major negative impact on an economical perspective at first, but the effect in the long run is short lived compared to incidents such as war or internal conflict within destinations. A perfect example for this would be the terrorist attack of 9/11. Just a few years after the incident, the site, now known as Ground Zero, attracts more visitors per year than the World Trade Centre (Travel Weekly, 2012).
Overall, it can be suggested that terrorist attacks within a destination can alter the tourism demand patterns, for example, Chen and Noriega (2004) suggested that there was an increasing demand to cancel travel or holiday plans on receipt of the 9/11 attacks. This therefore suggests that major crisis have major negative impacts on the tourism industry. It is therefore important that with any major tourist destination, the significance of crisis and risk management should be emphasised by the frequency, severity and global scale of the crises, (Beirman, 2010).
References:
Beirman, D. (2010) Crisis, Recovery and Risk management. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers Limited, p.4
Mansfeld, Y. and Pizam, A. (2006) Tourism, Security and Safety: from theory to practice. 3rd ed. UK: Oxford.
Sönmez, S. (1998). Tourism, Terrorism and Political Instability. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(2):416